The Grapevine Police Department announced this week that seven suspects were apprehended in connection with an alleged multi-million dollar auto theft ring in North Texas.
Auto thefts have been on the rise in the Dallas metroplex over the past two years. In the city of Grapevine, local police recorded 316 reports of auto theft between January 1, 2023, and March 22, 2024. Many of the thefts occurred in public parking lots within the city, including some at the Grapevine Mills Mall.
In the city of Dallas, motor vehicle thefts jumped from 13,409 in 2022 to 18,816 in 2023, becoming the most reported crime in the city, according to the City of Dallas crime analytics dashboard. As of July 30 of the current year, 9,047 motor vehicle thefts have been reported in Dallas.
Last year, two detectives and a crime analyst from the Grapevine Police Department launched a concerted effort to track where the stolen vehicles were going and who was stealing them, spending hundreds of hours reviewing surveillance footage, crime bulletins, and social media posts, according to a press release from the department.
Security camera footage of a motor vehicle theft at the Grapevine Mills Mall parking lot helped investigators crack the case wide open, police said.
“Our crime analyst saw a vehicle and said, ‘I think that’s the vehicle from another one,'” said Grapevine police spokesperson Amanda McNew, per CBS News. “After a lot of hours of investigation, they were able to identify a suspect vehicle, and from there, it just snowballed, and their investigation went wide open.”
Police recovered enough evidence from that theft to tie the group to other auto thefts, including $5-$10 million in just the city of Grapevine. Eventually, detectives confirmed the ring’s involvement in other motor vehicle thefts across the metroplex, and they believe the suspects could be involved in many more.
“The total confirmed loss from the auto thefts linked to this theft ring is over 200 vehicles, totaling more than $9.3 million,” the press release stated. The scope of the thefts makes it the largest auto theft ring ever uncovered in North Texas.
The thefts occurred in Grapevine, Euless, Grand Prairie, Garland, Irving, Dallas, and Addison, CBS News reported.
On March 22, local patrol officers, regional SWAT teams, and various assisting agencies conducted raids at homes in Dallas and Garland, arresting seven suspects, seizing two stolen luxury vehicles, GPS trackers, a gun, and high-tech devices that are used to reprogram key fobs of stolen vehicles.
The suspects were identified as Henry Actwood, Jr., Dylan Correa, Gavin Correa, Cristian Morel, Jeremiah Morel, Kevin Oats, Jr., and Jose Perez, Fox 4 KDFW reported. All have been charged with engaging in organized crime, which is a felony. Some of the suspects also had active arrest warrants in other cities for aggravated robbery and evading arrest.
“I can tell you from our agency in Grapevine, we had zero auto thefts the month after we made those arrests,” said McNew.
However, motor vehicle theft and other crimes continue to plague the city of Dallas. The Dallas Police Department has been hindered in its efforts to combat crime by a chronic shortage of police officers, fielding about 3,000 officers, despite a city analysis that recommended 4,000 officers to maintain public safety. In addition, the department is working with a budget of only $654 million, far less than other high-crime jurisdictions like Chicago and New York City.